Day 2 in Cambodia

Hello Everyone,

So today was our first day at the orphanage, it was pretty intense and nerve racking. For the first half of the day we made our lesson plans, which was a pretty hard considering we didn't have a clue what the kids had been doing and what they knew. We were each given a 2 sets of classes , one for the kids and one for university students. Elise had Class A for Kids, she has 17 kids in her class from ages ranging from 6 - 14. Andrew and Sarah have classes B and C respectively and they only have a few kids each. My class in called the 'under the tree' class, this is because unlike the others i don't have a class room, i literally just have class under a tree outside. Although today it was too hot so we had class in the kitchen ( this was interesting as their dinner was being prepared at the same time, so there was a lady chopping a chicken with a clever, as i was giving my lesson).

First we had university class , Elise and I got to teach together for this. It was really hard finding out what they already knew, and they laughed at us alot. But the class was really nice and easy to handle. When teaching its like survival tacktics and your head just goes blank about all the teaching techniques. I found myself learning the lesson from Elise at the same time , as i know nothing about grammar.

Next we had the kids. I had only five kids in my class and they were soo noisy and naughty - all i pretty much managed was t0 play games...hopefully it doesn't continue like this. One particularly disheartening moment was having a 6 yr old Cambodian kid correct my spelling of the word banana on the white board ( i had got a bit carried away with ''n'') .

Hopefully now we have a better idea of what they know, so we can prepare better lessons tomorrow... We only teach from 1-3 and 3-5 so we have some time in the morning.

This evening we went to 'Friends Restraunt' where we went the first night because it has a pool, so we had a swim before dinner, which was really nice.

Now we are absolutely wrecked and are ready for an early night.

Love Elise and Stef

PS.. photos and video will have to wait because none of the computers here register them when we connect them :(

xxx